I bought one a few weeks ago, and have had a chance to play. They are identical (as far as I can tell) to the original MECB board, apart from:

1. No tape interface - I'm working on a PCB to do this.2. ROM is in a different location and larger.3. More RAM.

There is a problem with the shipped ROM - the version of Tutor 1.3 installed does not handle TRAP #14 commands. I tracked this down to an assembly error (macro handling) causing the TRAP #14 vector table to have incorrect entries (the entries are supposed to be COMMAND << 24 + jump offset but are COMMAND << 16 + jump offset thus corrupting the address).

I have downloaded the version of Tutor 1.3 for Easy68k and assembled it. So far it works when located in RAM, I am waiting for some 27C512 and an EPROM burner to burn some updated ROMs. I see no reason why these shouldn't work.

Once that's done I'm going to write a TRAP #15 handler compatible (for the most part) with Easy68K. Then it will be a simulator with a purpose

I'm also investigating when I can 'recreate' the hardware window of Easy68k in reality I'll let you know how I get on.

Discussion of any of these topics is most welcome. I have rediscovered 68k and 'hard' programming, digital logic design and schematic/PCB design and am secretly loving it!

ps - there is no ethernet on this board - two serial ports and a parallel printer interface (with an additional two 8-bit I/O ports) - see MECB doco, facilities are the same (with exception of tape interface as detailed above).

It's being developed on two 68008 and one 68000 SBC that I have but I hope to have a version for the Amiga and other home computers eventually. There is even a version that runs on EASy68K. 8^)=

It would be interesting (for me) to get a version running under Palm OS Garnet 5.4. A bit of support code to do terminal emulation (there must be some code out there to do it) then I can run it on my Fossil Abacus watch (Dragonball 66Mhz processor). You can't say that wouldn't be cool

I can confirm that once relocated the standard Tutor 1.3 ROMs run on the MECB clone board, and TRAP #14 calls now work correctly. Next up is the tape interface. I'll post a URL when I managed to get a new domain name registered (my old one just expired!).

Out of interest, does anyone have any experience of interfacing a keyboard to the MECB or equivalent board? I am thinking of either (a) finding an old ASCII keyboard or (b) using a separate microcontroller to convert a PS/2 keyboard into RS232 compatible outputs.

A standard PC keyboard will communicate with a serial interface. I've got the code somewhere that communicates with the PC keyboard via a 6850 ACIA. This was not a PS2 keyboard, I'm not sure what the voltage levels and signals look like on a PS2 keyboard.

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